Knitting machines, especially flat machines

ABSTRACT

In a flat knitting machine with needle-actuating jacks mounted in the needle bed tricks, each with a working or operating butt acted on by the needle cams or lock parts for control of the needle movements, each jack is made as an elastically flexible rod or bar supported at both ends, on which a presser element can act, and the working butt of each jack is disposed in the area of maximum bending, such that it is moved out of range of the cam parts when the jack is bent. The jack is coupled with its associated needle so that the needle does not have to have a working butt of its own and necessarily must follow the movement of the jack in the needle trick, in either direction. For bending the jacks, presser jacks can be provided, or there can be provided an articulated slide or pusher on a selector jack, the slide or pusher having a wedge-shaped end which cooperates with a stationary oblique surface.

United States Patent Hadam [54] KNITTING MACHINES, ESPECIALLY FLATMACHINES [72] Inventor:

many

[73] Assignee: II. Stoll and Company, Stollweg,

Germany [22] Filed: Dec.15,1970

[21] Appl. No.: 98,236

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Germany ..P 19 62 787.3

Wilhelm Hadam, Reuthlingen, Ger- Oct. 24, 1972 Germany ..66/75Switzerland .66/ 75 ABSTRACT In a flat knitting machine withneedle-actuating jacks mounted in the needle bed tricks, each with aworking or operating butt acted on by the needle cams or lock parts forcontrol of the needle movements, each jack is made as an elasticallyflexible rod or bar supported at both ends, on which a presser elementcan act, and the working butt of each jack is disposed in the area ofmaximum bending, such that it is moved out of range of the cam partswhen the jack is bent. The jack is coupled with its associated needle sothat the needle does not have to have a working butt of its own andnecessarily must follow the movement of the jack in the needle trick, ineither direction. For bending the jacks, presser jacks can be provided,or there can be provided an articulated slide or pusher on a selectorjack, the slide or pusher having a wedge-shaped end which cooperateswith a stationary oblique surface.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUBI 24 I972 SHEET l 0F 2 llg 5F Nu?N9 2 ME ON PATENTEDncI 24 I972 SHEET 2 [IF 2 mm NNP 2 mp KNITTINGMACHINES, ESPECIALLY FLAT MACHINES FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND ANDSUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In machines of the previously mentioned type,the height adjustment of the needle butts or of the butts of the jacksthat cooperate with the needles, as they extend beyond the needle bedtricks, is already known in the art for the selection of needles. Insuch known constructions, the shafts of the needles are either made withtwo butts, one working butt for the needle lock or cam and a patternbutt for the pattern lock or cam of the machine, or they may be providedwith only onebutt, and the needle shafts may be made as beams that aresubjectable to bowing under bending stress in the manner of aunilaterally supported and loaded beam.

These known knitting machines have the disadvantage that the so-calledneedle wedge, by means of which the exact height setting of the needlesis determined, is subject to considerable wear from the needles that areunder bending stress, thrust in and out in a bent or bowed state in theneedle tricks under the needle wedge. This rapidly leads to an inexactguiding of the needles, and therewith to the danger of flaws in theknitted product, to be traced to, among other things, the fact that theworking butts of the needles no longer spring back to their startingpositions; In addition, the presser members that act on the needleshafts must effect relatively long setting strokes to move a needle buttaway from the region of the cam parts.

A further drawback of known knitting machines resides in the fact thatin a selection of needles according to pattern, the non-working needlesare not sufficiently positively guided, so that they are liable to bebrought into striking range of like parts which have not been taken out,with the danger that these needles will engage the yarn when this is notdesired.

The instant invention is directed to the problem of developing aknitting machine for patterned needle selection, with elimination of thedrawbacks that have been mentioned, in such a way that the needles canin any indicated operational position be brought into engagement andagain out of engagement with the cam parts, with little expenditure offorce and with a short setting stroke of the control elements, in such away that a change in the width of the knitted product can be effectedindependently of the needle selection by the Jacquard device.

Generally in accordance with the invention, this proposed objective isachieved by a construction in which each jack for control of the needlemovements is made as an elastically or resiliently flexible rod or barsupported at both ends, on which rod or bar a presser element can act,and in which the working butt of the jack is disposed in the area ofmaximum bending, in such a way that it is moved away from the cam partswhen the jack is bent or bowed. The jack is connected with the needle inquestion in close configuration, so

that the needle does not have to have a working butt of its own andnecessarily must follow the movement of the jack longitudinally in theneedle trick, in either direction.

A known presser jack or bar can be used as the presser member that actson the jack, the presser jack being pivotably borne in or on the needlebed, and urged by presser cam parts against the elastic force of aspring element. The presser jack can be adjustably disposed in a knownway between the acting areas of several presser cam parts, whereby oneof the said cam parts, especially the one nearest the needles, is usedfor stopping the needles that at the moment are beyond the width of theknitted product. In stopping or arresting the needles, the needles aretherefore not drawn back into the tricks as in knitting machinesheretofore known, but rather all needles of a needle bed, includingthose that for the moment are beyond the width of the knitted product,are always at the same height in the needle bed. The non-working needlesare selected in each knitting course.

As presser members acting on the jacks, there may also be intermediatejacks that are operated by the cam parts via control butts, the saidintermediate jacks being acted on in turn by presser jacks. Such anintermediate jack can advantageously be applied to the jack in thevicinity of the working butt, or it can be at some distance from it.

A substantial advantage of the invention is one form resides in the factthat for arresting or stopping a needle only a force that initiatesbending needs to be applied to the related intermediate jack. Thefurther bending and holding of the jack in the bent position developswithout further expenditure of setting force, because according to oneform of the invention the intermediate jack has a wedge-shaped end thatcan move against a stationary oblique surface. The stationary obliquesurface is advantageously constituted as a strip or bar that extendslongitudinally with reference to the needle bed, across the needletricks.

In accordance with the invention, in knitting machines without pressercam parts in the carriage, there can be used a pusher or slide pivotablycoupled to a selector jack as the presser member that acts on theelastically flexible jack. This articulatedly connected slide can movewith its wedge-shaped end against a stationary oblique surface. Theselector jack has a control butt that extends into the region that isacted on by selectively engaged cam parts.

The invention offers the further advantage that it can be used both onknitters with V-shaped needle beds and also on knitters with needle bedsin a common plane (links-and-links machines) and that a needle can beshifted to or out of any of its characteristic positions during atraverseof the lock, thus, for example, into or out of its retractedposition, its advanced yarn receiving and holding position and itsstitch transfer or receiving position. The needles that are beyond thewidth of the knitted product and are in their retracted positions remainbeyond the range of action of the sinker lock parts. A marked wearstress of machine parts, as in the case of previously known knittingmachines, is avoided by the invention. The control paths of the machineparts are all short. The springing back of the jacks after theirrelease, to their starting position, occurs in a fraction of the timewith the construction of the sinkers as beams on two supports, ascompared to the construction of beams that are unilaterally tensioned orsupported only at one end. The withdrawal of needles in changing thewidth of the knitted material is entirely superfluous, without anydanger that the disengaged needles will come into the effective area ofa pattern device. The movement of bending of the jacks for stopping theneedles does not cause any displacement movement of the needles, and thejacks when they are in their inoperative position are held there withoutexternal force, whereby the needle associated with the jack in anappropriately interengaged manner is likewise securely held. The factthat the jack is always acted on in each needle passage either bybending or by a longitudinal displacement in the needle trick reliablyprevents binding of the jack that could be caused by accumulation ofdust, even if the needles are stopped.

Other and further object s, advantages and features of the inventionwill be apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdescription of preferredembodiments, taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which examples of embodiments of needle control andauxiliary members are shown more or less schematically, only so much ofa total knitting machine being illustrated as is necessary to anunderstanding of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic section throughone of the needle beds of a tlat knitter in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a partial illustration corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a jackin its bent or sunken state.

FIG. 3 is a schematic section through one of the needle beds of a flatknitter in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic section through one of the neewith a thirdembodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a section throughone of the needle beds 10 of a double cam flat knitter that can befurnished with a Jacquard pattern device. The section runs along one ofthe needle tricks 13 of the needle bed 10, in which a latch needle 11 islongitudinally slidable. Latch needle 11 is articulatedly or hingedlyconnected in a close fitting manner with one end of a jack 12, which endis constructed as a pivot head or spherical joint 121. Jack 12 is in theform of a flexible bar or rod which in its illustrated position runs ata distance from base 131 of the needle trick 13, and which is supportedat both ends, on the one end by pivot head 121 in needle 11, and at theother end by supporting foot or butt 122 which rides on the base 131 ofthe needle trick 13. Jack 12 is provided at its center, that is, in theregion of maximum flexibility, with a working or operating butt 123which in the illustrated position extends into the area of the cam partsdisposed in the carriage of the machine, which is not illustrated. Theindividual needle tricks 13 are separated from each other in a knownmanner by individually inserted webs or rods 30.

One end 141 of presser member 14 is applied to jack 12 in the generalvicinity of its working butt 123. Presser member 14 is made as atwo-armed lever, and it is lirnitedly pivotable about a lower supportingbutt 142 which bears against a bar strip 15, and is longitudinallydisplaceable between various settings with reference to the needletrick. In the vicinity of its striker end 141 on the cam side it isprovided with an upper presser butt 143 on which the presser cam or lockparts 16 of the machine carriage act. As the drawing shows, with furtherpresser butts 143, there is a presser cam element 16 in the carriage ofthe machine in each position of presser members 14. The innermostpresser cam element 16 which in FIG. 1 acts on sinker butt 143 serves tostop the needles that at the moment are beyond-the width of the knittedproduct. Presser member 14 is deflected clockwise by presser cam element16, via presser butt 143 against the elastic restoring force of a foamrubber pad 17, whereby the elastically flexible jack 12 is forceddownward as shown in FIG. 2 such that its working butt 123 is broughtbelow the region acted on by the camming parts of the machine carriage.

In the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, to increase the number ofpossibilities of control of each presser member 14, an additionallongitudinally adjustable presser member 18 is provided, which bears onpresser member 14 by means of a lower butt 181, and on which twoadditional cam elements 19 and 20 can act via two presser butts 182 and183. The second member 18 is applied against the underside of strip 21by a butt 184, and it is pivotable in a clockwise direction against theresilient force of a foam rubber pad 22. The foam rubber pads 17 and 22conveniently can be disposed on steel bars or strips that extend overthe whole length of needle bed 10 with its needle tricks. Thelongitudinal adjustment of the presser members occurs in known fashionat their stepped thrust ends in the case of pattern devices with steelJacquard cards. The displacement of a presser member 14 with its butt143 to a position under the innermost cam presser part 16 for stoppingthe needles can be effected either manually or automatically by means ofadjustable bars or strips that are mounted in front of the Jacquardcard. In this foremost position the presser member is then no longersubject to the Jacquard device, and the restoration of members 14 and 18from their thrust position to the starting position can be effected byknock-back or take-off parts in the carriage that are not illustrated.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3 there are also two presser members 14 and 18that are actuatable by cam presser elements that are not illustrated,but in this case presser member 14 and its end 141 no longer actdirectly on elastically flexible jack 12, but rather on an intermediatejack 23 with a hairpin turn end section 231, which is borne displaceablybetween strip 15 and the base 131 of the needle trick. In the region ofits other end, intermediate jack 23 is provided with an operating butt232, and it presents a wedge surface 233. Operating butt 232 ofintermediate jack 23 extends into the working area of the camming partsof the machine carriage, which parts control the lengthwise displacementof the intermediate jack in the needle trick. Thereby with simultaneousactuation of presser member 14 with which the intermediate jack ispressed down into the needle trick 13, the pushing of the obliquesurface 233 of intermediate jack 23 onto a corresponding counter obliquesurface of narrow strip 24 is effected, the strip 24 extending abovejacks 12 over the entire length of needle bed 110 with its needletricks. In this way the intermediate jack 23 presses with its lower butt234 against the flexible middle portion of jack 12.

In this embodiment (FIG. 3), the presser cams need effect only thedepression of intermediate jacks 23 into needle tricks 13, via pressermembers 14. The further work is undertaken by the cam parts that thrustthe intermediate jacks by control butts 232 in depressed state belowstrip 24. Thereby working butts 123 of jacks 12 will be pressed into theneedle tricks and withdrawn from the region of the camming parts, to beheld there without further expenditure of external force until theintermediate jack is again drawn out from under strip 24 by the camparts via control butt 232, so that, provided presser member 14 is nolonger acted upon, it can spring back to the rest position illustratedin FIG. 3.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4 each elastically or resiliently flexiblejack 12 is controlled by a slide or pusher 25 that acts as a pressermember. Slide 25 is applied to the flexible middle portion of jack 12,and on its forward end, as in the case of intermediate jack 23, itpresents an oblique bevel surface 251. Surface 251 can run onto thecounter-oblique bevel surface of strip bar 24, being at the same height.Slide 25 is connected at its other end via a pivot head 252 with aselector jack 26 which is slidable in the longitudinal direction of theneedle trick on two bar strips 27 and 28. Selector jack 26 presents twooperating butts 261 and 262 which are acted on by the cam parts. By thesaid control butts 261 and 262, the longitudinal displacement ofselector jack 26 in the needle trick is effected and controlled. In caseof a shift of the selector jack 26 of FIG. 4 toward the right, theoblique surface 251 of slide 25 runs onto the counter-oblique surface ofstrip 24, so that the slide 25 is pivoted about its pivot head 252 in aclockwise direction, and thereby flexible jack 12 is pressed into theneedle trick, so that working butt 123 of the jack is out of the rangeof action of the cam parts.

I claim 1. In a knitting machine, especially a flat knitter of the typehaving jacks borne in the needle tricks of the needle beds, the jacksbeing operatively coupled to the needles and having working butts thatcan be acted upon by the needle lock parts of the machine for control ofneedle movement, the improvement wherein each jack comprises anelastically flexible rod supported at both ends above the base of theneedle trick,

on which flexible rod a presser member can act, the working butt of eachjack being disposed in the area of maximum flexibility of the jack suchthat when the jack is bent the working butt is out of the range of theneedle cam parts, a presser member for acting on each needleactuatingjack so as to selectively move its butt into or out of range of theneedle cam parts, said presser member being pivotably borne near theneedle bed such that a pivotable portion thereof can act on theassociated jack, presser cam parts for actuating the presser members toin turn actuate the jacks, and resilient means urging the pressermembers pivotably away from the jacks.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising intermediatejacks each disposed to be acted on by cam parts via a control butt andmoved longitudinally of its needle trick, and acted on by a pressermember to be depressed for actuating the jack, each intermediate jackbeing provided with a wedge-shaped end for cooperation with a stationaryoblique surface to secure the position of a needle-actuating jack, theoperating butt of which is moved out of the range of action of the camparts.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a presser memberfor acting on each elastically flexible jack, each presser membercomprising a slide pivotally connected with a selector jack, said slidebeing movable by said selector jack longitudinally of a needle trick andhaving a wedge-shaped end movable against or away from a stationaryoblique surface to effect movement of the slide and its associatedneedle-actuating jack toward or away from the base of the needle trick,said selector jack having at least one control butt which extends intothe range of action of selectively operable cam parts of the machine foreffecting movement of the selector jack and its slide.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the stationary obliquesurface is formed on a bar that extends in a direction that islongitudinal with reference to the needle bed and transverse withreference to the needle tricks.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein the stationary obliquesurface is formed on a bar that extends in a direction that islongitudinal with reference to the needle bed and transverse withreference to the needle tricks.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said elastically flexiblejack rod is pivotally connected at one end to its associated needle, andis supported at its other end by a supporting butt bearing on the baseof the needle trick.

1. In a knitting machine, especially a flat knitter of the type havingjacks borne in the needle tricks of the needle beds, the jacks beingoperatively coupled to the needles and having working butts that can beacted upon by the needle lock parts of the machine for control of needlemovement, the improvement wherein each jack comprises an elasticallyflexible rod supported at both ends above the base of the needle trick,on which flexible rod a presser member can act, the working butt of eachjack being disposed in the area of maximum flexibility of the jack suchthat when the jack is bent the working butt is out of the range of theneedle cam parts, a presser member for acting on each needleactuatingjack so as to selectively move its butt into or out of range of theneedle cam parts, said presser member being pivotably borne near theneedle bed such that a pivotable portion thereof can act on theassociated jack, presser cam parts for actuating the presser members toin turn actuate the jacks, and resilient means urging the pressermembers pivotably away from the jacks.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim1, further comprising intermediate jacks each disposed to be acted on bycam parts via a control butt and moved longitudinally of its needletrick, and acted on by a presser member to be depressed for actuatingthe jack, each intermediate jack being provided with a wedge-shaped endfor cooperation with a stationary oblique surface to secure the positionof a needle-actuating jack, the operating butt of which is moved out ofthe range of action of the cam parts.
 3. Apparatus as claimed in claim1, further comprising a presser member for acting on each elasticallyflexible jack, each presser member comprising a slide pivotallyconnected with a selector jack, said slide being movable by saidselector jack longitudinally of a needle trick and having a wedge-shapedend movable against or away from a stationary oblique surface to effectmovement of the slide and its associated needle-actuating jack toward oraway from the base of the needle trick, said selector jack having atleast one control butt which extends into the range of action ofselectively operable cam parts of the machine for effecting movement ofthe selector jack and its slide.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2,wherein the stationary oblique surface is formed on a bar that extendsin a direction that is longitudinal with reference to the needle bed andtransverse with reference to the needle tricks.
 5. Apparatus as claimedin claim 3 wherein the stationary oblique surface is formed on a barthat extends in a direction that is longitudinal with reference to theneedle bed and transverse with reference to the needle tricks. 6.Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said elastically flexible jackrod is pivotally connected at one end to its associated needle, and issupported at its other end by a supporting butt bearing on the base ofthe needle trick.